But what might worry both the government and people of Georgia rather more is whether they might now be heading the same way as the last Hannanite model for us all to emulate, the blue eyed sheikhs of Iceland of whom he wrote, with his characteristic certainty and confidence:

Being outside the EU, Iceland has been able to cut taxes and regulation, and to open up its economy. For 70 years the Althing has been dominated by the splendidly named Independence party, which has pursued the kind of Thatcherite agenda that is off limits to EU members...Icelanders understand that there is a connection between living in an independent state and living independently from the state. They have no more desire to submit to international than to national regulation.

That attitude has made them the happiest, freest and wealthiest people on earth.

How mean. Did we need to mention that again? And isn't national bankruptcy all just part of the creative destruction that makes the most unfettered capitalism possible just great?

So here's the deal. Its well known that we take Hannanism seriously here on Next Left. We might even leave the embarassing subject of his Icelandic advocacy alone, one day, though it would obviously be a wrench, were we to ever get an answer to our earlier question to Dan Hannan and the Hannanites:

To remind you:

Did the collapse of Iceland's economy lead you to change your mind in any important way?

Or will his argument turn out to be that even Iceland's collapse was due not to too little regulation, not too much?